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🎸 Your Philly winter concert lineup | Things to Do

Plus, the Gritty store, Lunar New Year celebrations, and Eagles merch.

FILE - Kelsea Ballerini performs during CMA Fest in Nashville, Tenn., on June 7, 2024. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Kelsea Ballerini performs during CMA Fest in Nashville, Tenn., on June 7, 2024. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)Read moreAmy Harris / Amy Harris/Invision/AP

You already know this but it bears repeating — the Eagles are officially heading to the Super Bowl! The city is already going crazy, and for the next 10 days we will be in full (kelly) green mode. Plus, we can finally say goodbye to the long year that was January. This February, I’m looking forward to celebrating Black History Month as well as the Super Bowl. What are you excited about this month? Let me know!

— Rosa Cartagena (@_RosaCartagena, Email me at thingstodo@inquirer.com)

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What do Kelsea Ballerini, Mannequin Pussy, and organist Paul Jacobs have in common? They’re all playing in Philly in the coming weeks. Pop music critic Dan DeLuca and classical music critic Peter Dobrin teamed up to bring you their best picks for Philly’s winter concert lineup.

The best things to do this week

🦅 Don that Kelly green: Whether you’re a bandwagon fan or a diehard Eagles head, everyone is looking for something green to root for the Eagles in the Super Bowl next weekend. We rounded up 16 great local shops where you can find all sorts of merch.

🏒 More sports fun: Make your own Gritty doll — like a Build-A-Bear — at the new Gritty store in the Wells Fargo Center. You can design an adorable personalized “Itty Bitty Gritty” to bring everyone’s favorite fuzzy orange mascot home.

📅 Pro tip: Some of the hottest restaurants in Philly can be nearly impossible to get into — but there’s one night where you can find a reservation if you’re not the biggest sports fan: Super Bowl Sunday.

🐍 New year, new animal: Lunar New Year celebrations continue across Philly ringing in the Year of the Snake. This weekend try themed tasting menus at Buddakan, Kampar, and other yummy spots.

🎭 Grab a seat: The music-filled drama Holy Grail of Memphis, currently running at the Arden Theatre, comes from Philly playwright Michael Hollinger and focuses on the still-argued-about history of the Blues. Read our review.

📅 My calendar picks this week: Minty Fresh Circus, Lunar New Year at the Rail Park, Riot Nerd & Henn House: The Grammys Drag Brunch

The thing of the week

Time is running out to see the “The Time Is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure” at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (closing on Feb. 9). The monumental show takes a fascinating look at portraits of Black people, individually and collectively, through painting and sculpture. It’s a totally entrancing experience. Stand in awe looking up at Thomas Price’s towering bronze statue of a Black woman in athleisure called As Sounds Turn to Noise, or lose yourself in the pale grays of Amy Sherald’s confrontational subjects. Don’t miss Kerry James Marshall’s luminous portraits or Danielle Joy Mckinney’s extremely relatable paintings of women relaxing at home, bright red nails and all.

Winter fun this week and beyond

💻 For the watch list: A new docuseries coming to Amazon called Spy High focuses on the notorious 2010 “WebcamGate” scandal, when families sued the Lower Merion School District for issuing laptops that secretly spied on them.

⛸️ Everybody’s so creative: Do you have a backyard ice rink? Some clever folks in the region have taken advantage of the freezing cold to build their own DIY rinks.

🍺 Memorial brews: Groundbreaking filmmaker David Lynch, who died recently, was majorly inspired by Philadelphia during the brief time he lived in Callowhill. Neighborhood brewery Love City Brewing named its IPA “Eraserhood” for the auteur, which you can sip in his honor.

📺 Local laughs: Kevin Hart is producing a new animated comedy series for BET+ called Lil Kev, inspired by his childhood and set in ‘90s Philly. Playing Hart’s mom and uncle will be comedians Wanda Sykes and Deon Cole. Here’s everything we know so far.

🐼 A New York import worth the hype: This spring, Dilworth Park will host Panda Fest, a touring pan-Asian food and culture festival with 35 vendors and a giant inflatable panda.

Our critic’s picks

Pop music critic Dan DeLuca breaks down the best upcoming shows.

🎷 Thursday: At Solar Myth, improvisational jazz trio Dromedaries teams with writer and activist Alex Smith. It’s billed as Dromedaries x Alexoteric. At the McCarter Theater in Princeton, Solar Myth regular Marshall Allen leads the Sun Ra Arkestra, and Mannequin Pussy headlines the Queen in Wilmington.

🎤 Also Thursday: The FireAid concerts, to aid those who’ve suffered losses from this month’s Los Angeles wildfires, are streaming just about everywhere — Amazon, Apple+ TV, Hulu, Netflix, and other streaming services. The lineup includes Billie Eilish, Stevie Wonder, Green Day, Olivia Rodrigo, Lady Gaga, Anderson .Paak, Joni Mitchell, Jelly Roll, Peso Pluma, Stevie Nicks, and Sting. Pink will be our proud Philly rep.

🎤 Friday: On Friday, veteran songwriter Steve Forbert and the New Renditions are downstairs at the Music Hall at World Cafe Live, while Molly Lewis, the musical whistler from Los Angeles who opened for Beck and the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center last summer, plays upstairs at the Lounge.

🎹 Saturday: Jamie xx, the British beatmaker for the electro-soul trio The xx, and a producer who has worked with the late Gil Scott Heron, among others, headlines Franklin Music Hall. Handsome Dick Manitoba, singer of New York legendary punk outfit the Dictators, tops a bill at Kung Fu Necktie.

Read more music picks.

This week I got around to watching the show Survival of the Thickest, starring the hilarious comedy queen Michelle Buteau (season two is expected in March!). What are you watching these days? Let me know!